Devotional - December 11

Reflect:  SILENCE definitely has its own sound… each time I visit the Prayer Garden in Phoenix, I experience the absolutely deafening roar of SILENCE. Once the roar of SILENCE settles down to more of a feeling than a sound, I begin to hear things like my heart beating, individual blades of grass rubbing together, the gentle wings of butterflies pumping the air. What does SILENCE sound like to you? What does it feel like?

Read: Silent Night! Holy Night! All is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin mother and child! Holy Infant so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night! Holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight; glories stream from heaven afar; heav’nly hosts sing alleluia-Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born! Silent Night! Holy night! Son of God, love’s pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace-Jesus, Lord at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.

Imagine: “During the First World War, on Christmas Eve, the battlefield was strangely quiet. As the soft snow fell, the thoughts of the young men were of home and their families. Softly one lad began to hum ‘Silent Night.’ Wheezy tenors and throaty baritones took up the chorus until the trenches resounded with the Christmas song. When they finished singing, they were astonished to hear the song echoing from the trenches across no-man’s land: In their own tongue the other soldiers also sang ‘Silent Night.’ That night they were thinking of the Prince of Peace, the Christ of Christmas.” [excerpted from “This Christmas Night” by Billy & Ruth Graham ©2007]

Pray: Father, God, thank You for being there in the SILENCE. Help me to find time in the middle of the busyness of this week to listen for Your voice. Let this be a time of peace in my life. Not peace that the world gives, but “peace that surpasses all understanding.”   

Celebrate: Fine a time and place where you can be SILENT before God and listen for His voice. Find joy in the SILENCE!